Woodstock, NY, April 28, 2014 – The Grammy Foundation awarded a grant to the nonprofit Creative Music Foundation to help it restore, preserve and digitize the CMS Archive, over 500 concerts conducted at the Creative Music Studio in the 1970s and 1980s.  CMF was one of only 16 organizations to receive the prestigious grant.  The grant, for $11,600, will help CMF digitize the remainder of the CMS Archive, which is being archived at Columbia University’s Library.”Over the course of its history, our GRAMMY Foundation Grant Program has awarded more than $6 million to more than 300 worthwhile initiatives,” said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy® and the GRAMMY Foundation. “Our grantees are noteworthy for the range and ambition of their endeavors, and this year’s group includes such varied initiatives as the preservation of 400 recordings of innovative performances by pioneer composers and performers of jazz, world music and new music to a project that will be the first to identify how music can facilitate stroke patients’ abilities to understand everyday speech. We are proud that the GRAMMY Foundation Grant Program can be a philanthropic leader in the areas of archiving, preservation and scientific research.”Generously funded by The Recording Academy, the Grant Program provides funding annually to organizations and individuals to support efforts that advance the archiving and preservation of the recorded sound heritage of the Americas for future generations, as well as research projects related to the impact of music on the human condition. In 2008, the Grant Program expanded its categories to include assistance grants for individuals and small- to mid-sized organizations to aid collections held by individuals and organizations that may not have access to the expertise needed to create a preservation plan. The assistance planning process, which may include inventorying and stabilizing a collection, articulates the steps to be taken to ultimately archive recorded sound materials for future generations.

“The credibility of this prestigious grant cannot be overstated,” said Rob Saffer, CMF executive director. “Along with our association with Columbia University, receiving a Grammy grant will help elevate the importance of the CMS Archive Project and will fuel fundraising for the remainder of tapes that require restoration and preservation.  We are grateful to the Grammy Foundation for its support of this important and timely work.”

In a statement, the Grammy Foundation said, “The goal of the CMS Archive Project is to finalize the restoration of historically and artistically important audiotapes from the Creative Music Studio’s archive of more than 400 recordings of innovative performances by pioneer composers/performers of jazz, world music and new music. The CMS Archive of recordings is unique in its artistic breadth and depth. The archive is being housed at the Columbia University Library in New York City for research and educational purposes.”

The Creative Music Foundation has partnered with Columbia University’s Library to preserve the CMS Archive for posterity. CMS is giving Columbia the full archive of recorded tapes, along with memorabilia and photographs from CMS. CMS co-founder and artistic director Karl Berger and audio engineer (and former CMS participant) Ted Orr are going through each tape, digitizing and re-mastering them, a time consuming process that’s as much a labor of love as it is technical.  The digitized, re-mastered recordings will be available at the Columbia University Library for scholars or others who want to enjoy and learn from them. A CMS Oral History Project is also being conducted in association with Columbia University and its radio station, WKCR-FM.

The Creative Music Foundation, a 501C(3) nonprofit corporation, makes it possible to profoundly experience and express our deep connection with the transforming energies of music, our universal language. CMF programs focus on the common elements of all music, emphasizing keen awareness, personal expression, intensive listening and cross-cultural communication, and providing unique opportunities for musicians, students and listeners from different backgrounds and traditions to explore together, share, develop, and broaden their musical understanding and sensitivity. CMF pursues its mission through workshops, residencies, coaching, concerts, recordings and archival projects that engage both listeners and musicians in the USA and around the world.

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